OUP launches ambitious programmes for child education in Pakistan

The Oxford University Press (OUP), on Thursday proclaimed the unveiling of two advanced initiatives for the education of children in Pakistan, named as, The Oxford Big Read (OBR programme and the Oxford Quality Schools (OQS) programme.

Managing director of OUP (Pakistan) Ameena Saiyid while announcing this at local hotel said, the purpose behind the OBR was to persuade the children into reading quality reading materials as well as to train the in life-long love for reading, prominent to the appreciation of the written word and improved analytical and thinking abilities as well.

 The aspirants participating in the exams will not just be required to read OUP books however also write the critical reviews on them. The reviews will be judged first at the local level while the qualifiers after that will compete at the national level, along with the first three winners who will qualify for the prizes.

She said that “The main aim behind organizing this programme is to inspire the aspirants to read beyond their prospectuses, to instruct them in a zeal and zest of knowledge, all of which cannot be lodged in the recommended text books.”

Saiyid also claimed that the programme is also intended at teaching the children for a critical and analytical outlook towards the matters from initial age. The books for the aspirants will be hundred in number and they will provide to the primary, lower secondary, as well as to the higher secondary levels. They will be made available at the outlets of OUP.

From December 2015, the entries of children will be succumbed, while the final gatherings will be held in Karachi, Lahore, and in Islamabad as well, where the three runner-ups will be granted along with prizes. The exercise will begin from December 2015 and it will end in March 2016.

Mrs Saiyid also said that “This programme will be held under an agreement among OUP and Pakistani schools that come up to the chosen criteria”. The institutes combining the OQS will be granted along with an OQS certificate recommending their pledge to utilizing the quality teaching aids from the OUP. The nominated schools will be proficient to utilize the OQS strips on advertising literature, signboards, as well as the official website of OUP (Pakistan): www.oup.com.pk